Serbia on Sunday lived up to its billing as the gold medal favorite in men's water polo by ending three-time defending champion Hungary's 17-match unbeaten streak in the Olympics.
Andrija Prlainovic lead a relentless Serbian attack, scoring five times in a ۱۴-۱۰ win. It was Hungary ' s first Olympic loss since the Sydney Games in ۲۰۰۰.
" It was not easy, " Serbia ' s Filip Filipovic said. " They are triple Olympic medalists, so we maybe expected a little bit more aggression from their side and expected maybe a tougher game in defense and offense. I ' m happy because we opened these Olympic Games with a very important win. "
Filipovic, the ۲۰۱۱ world player of the year, Dusko Pijetlovic and Slobodan Nikic all chipped in with two goals apiece for the Serbs, who blew open a close game with five unanswered goals to take a ۸-۳ lead halfway through the third quarter.
Hungary, which is trying to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold medal, tried to battle back, but the deficit proved too much against a loaded Serbian side in an extremely physical contest in front of a sold - out water polo arena.
" We lost against a very good team, " said Hungary ' s Tamas Kasas. " We played bad, they played really good, and our defense was unfortunately not present, not good at all. But the tournament is very long, so we will have time. "
Kasas, who is one of four triple gold medalists on Hungary ' s team, also brushed aside talk of any disappointment with Serbia snapping Hungary ' s unbeaten streak.
" I don ' t care about records, " he said. " We just want to win the next game and not think about history and records, because if you think about this you can ' t concentrate on the next match. "
While Hungary has won a record nine Olympic water polo golds, Serbia is still in search of its first as an independent nation.
With the win Sunday, the Serbs sit atop a highly competitive Group B.
The United States and Montenegro, both considered solid medal contenders, play later Sunday in Group B, while Great Britain takes on Romania in the group ' s other match.
The U. S. is looking to improve on its second - place finish in Beijing four years ago and win the Americans ' first water polo gold since ۱۹۰۴.
Earlier Sunday in Group A, Croatia used a late surge to pull away for an ۸-۶ win over Greece. With the score ۵-۵ after three quarters, Croatia netted three unanswered goals from Niksa Dobud, Miho Boskovic and Sandro Sukno to take control of the match.
" It was a bit nervous start for us, the first two quarters, and after we started to play more aggressively our quality came to give us the result, " Boskovic said.
Spain also opened its Olympic campaign in Group A with an easy ۱۴-۶ victory over Kazakhstan behind five goals from Filipe Perrone Rocha, while Alex Giorgetti scored twice to lead ۲۰۱۱ world champion Italy past Australia ۸-۵.
" It was amazing. We feel like we were flying in the water, " Spain ' s Rocha said. " To score five goals is perfect, but the most important thing is that we were playing amazing and that we beat Kazakhstan. "
The 12-team field is broken into two groups of six for the preliminary stage. The top four teams from each group advance to the knockout round.
